Design for Durability

This chapter deals with the characteristics required of concrete so that corrosion of reinforcement is not likely throughout the service life. The techniques of additional protection that may be needed for particular conditions of a essiveness are also outlined in this chapter and will be illustrated in the following ones. 

In this regard, therefore, information wiU be restricted to explaining the generally accepted approach of design for durabihty based on models for carbonation and chloride penetration. In addition, a recently proposed method for quantified service life design is illustrated. Measures against chemical and physical attack of concrete have been addressed in Chapter 3. 

Experience has shown that a few design details are frequently the cause of failures, which will be further discussed in Chapter 12. Let it suffice here that the origin of corrosion can often be traced to simple errors that could have been avoided without any appreciable increase in cost 

This concept of a sequence of events with increasing levels of costs implies that the structure should be accessible to inspection and maintenance. If accessibility is limited, such as in underground stmctures, even more emphasis should be placed 

Luca Bertolini, Bernhard Elsener, Pietro Pedeferri, Rob P. Polder 

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Department of Transport (1994). Design for Durability, Departmental Advice Note. BA 57/94. 

Design for durability Long lasting > Refumishable Return system RefiUable... 

N. M. Stark, and L. M. Matuana, Coating WPCs using co-extrusion to improve durability. Proceedings of conference for coating wood and wood composites designing for durability. Seattle, WA2007. 1-12. 

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